A Thanksgiving weekend Sunday strikes me as the opportunity for me to issue this earnest mea culpa: I completely 100% missed the closing of Hikes Point Bar and Lounge, as well as the passing earlier this year of Leonard Meyer, the establishment’s longtime owner.
Yes, I live in New Albany, seldom venture to the vicinity of Hikes Point, and have reached the sell-by date for posing as a bar fly. But I still feel rotten about this. It’s too late to make “Comings & Goings” in our Winter 2024 print edition, so all will be noted there next quarter.
Since I’m late anyway, I hope LBF’s Mann doesn’t mind a slightly longer quoted passage than usual, as this assuages my conscience to a small degree.
Hikes Point Bar and Lounge closing after 64 years in business, by David A. Mann (Louisville Business First)
Hikes Point Bar and Lounge is closing its doors, according to multiple media reports. The business has been operating at 3937 Taylorsville Road since 1960. According to the Courier Journal, Leonard Meyer opened the bar at age 24 and worked there nearly every day. He died last August at the age of 88.
At the time the place opened, according to a report from WAVE-TV, women didn’t work behind bars or even sit at stools at bars. Meyer added a neon sign out front with the words “Ladies Invited” to let female visitors know they’d be welcomed there.
Hikes Point Bar and Lounge is being replaced with an Irish-themed bar, called the Dubliner. The sign is staying put, according to the WAVE report.
